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Lapis Lunaris

"Madman Entertainment are thrilled to announce the acquisition of SAILOR MOON – one of the most beloved and iconic anime series ever made – for distribution in Australia and New Zealand on DVD, Blu-ray and digital platforms.

"Not only will the arrangement see the release of all 200 episodes of the original series along with the three feature films and additional specials, but also the previously unavailable series SAILOR MOON S, SAILOR MOON SUPER S and SAILOR MOON SAILOR STARS.

"The uncut and uncensored release of SAILOR MOON will feature its original un-cropped 4:3 aspect ratio, along with all original Japanese character names, story elements and relationships, as well as an all-new uncut English dub with a new voice cast.

"The first 12 episodes of SAILOR MOON will premiere on AnimeLab.com on November 28, with subsequent episodes from season 1 and other seasons (SAILOR MOON R, SAILOR MOON S, SAILOR MOON SUPER S and SAILOR MOON SAILOR STARS) to follow throughout 2015

"The smash hit SAILOR MOON anime series is inspired by the bestselling manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi and tells the story of Usagi Tsukino, a clumsy but kind-hearted teenage girl who transforms into the powerful guardian of love and justice, Sailor Moon. Meeting allies along the way who share similar fates, Usagi and her team of planetary Sailor Guardians fight to protect the universe from forces of evil and total annihilation.

"SAILOR MOON will also receive a deluxe DVD and Blu-Ray release at a date to be determined in 2015. Further details of these deluxe releases will be revealed in the near future.

"Finally, in addition to the original series, Madman is also very proud to announce the acquisition of brand new series, SAILOR MOON CRYSTAL – which will begin streaming on AnimeLab.com from November 28, as well as receive a disc release at a yet to be determined date."

It is not known at this point if Madman will be using the material that Viz has already produced or if they will be giving the show their own separate treatment.

Luna Crescens

It's probably only a matter of time before Manga Entertainment picks it up for the UK. Madman will probably use Viz's materials and possibly even the same discs, but with the Viz logo swapped for Madman's. That's what they usually do. Their discs are often recycled for Manga UK as well.

And no, there will be no new dub. They're using Viz's dub and basically have the same license Viz has. This is actually big news for them since Australia has only previously gotten the DiC dub of Classic and R on DVD (with DVDs pretty much identical to ADV's). Unlike the US though, Australia has the series back through their old licensor (Madman). For the UK, I'm pretty sure it will be Manga UK now instead of MVM Entertainment (especially since MVM's DVDs of the DiC dub flopped, they probably don't want to touch the series with a 10-foot-pole. Interestingly, they are the only country to get BOXSETS of the DiC dub).

Lapis Lunaris

It does depend on whether they are given the freedom to change the artwork though. The licensor (Viz) may request they use the exact same designs, so in some cases the artwork is identical. However, take a look at the Studio Ghibli releases:

The Madman ones look epic and utilize a greater amount of characters in a dynamic action scene, while the U.S. ones are minimalistic and use only two characters from each, not conveying the same level of excitement as the Madman ones.

Luna Crescens

The Studio Ghibli and Transformers releases are handled by Disney and Shout! Factory respectively in the US. The Manga UK and Madman AU releases of FUNi and Viz shows are usually identical to the US releases, but with different logos/region coding, and maybe slightly different packaging (same design though).